Players' association to be launched in the coming days

The voice of the players could now be heard better following an initiative thanks to which a players’ union/association has been set up.

In past, there were various attempts by individuals who tried to form a players’ union. However these were not successful for a reason or another.
A players union requires a lot of time and no one player has the expertise in forming a union on his own. Hence the players behind this idea decided to join an already established union. Even if the players behind this idea believe that ideally they should have formed their own union they believe that without the help of the General Workers Union they would not have made it till this point especially without the help of Mr. Michael Parnis and Mr. Cory Greenland who worked hard so that this union can be set up and start functioning in a very short time.

The association/union is therefore being set up as a separate association/union under the auspices of the GWU.

First contacts were established few weeks ago and after the first meeting, membership forms were distributed. About eighty players from seven different Premier League clubs have already joined the union while player from another two clubs are in the process of joining as well. It is hoped that all players registered with the association eventually join this union.

Even if the General Workers Union is associated with a political local party in no way, it has been stressed that in no way this union will be politicized. Unfortunately not everyone is in favour of a players association and hence there are always those individuals who try to make things difficult. However they overcame these difficulties and still managed to set up the union. In addition, this union has nothing to do with the national Maltese team issue of the training allowance and in fact the union is not going to be involved in this issue. This union is for all the Maltese football players who form part of the MFA.

The aim of the union is that the voice of the players can now be heard.

A provisional committee made up of a number of players and a former player has been set up.

During the last meeting, important issues were discussed and it was decided that a paper will be presented which will include important issues such as:

– the transfer fee that has to be paid for a maltese player (foreigners can join maltese clubs on a free transfer but for us maltese a transfer fee has to be paid even if we are out of contract),
– medical insurance (there are many cases were players performed surgery abroad for example after getting injured with their respective clubs but never get compensated the expenses which can amount to thousands of euros),
– the maximum amount of salary that a player can receive which currently is €350 per month,
– reserves league,
– late payments,
– unacceptable clauses in players contracts such as a player who gets injured with his club and will be out of action for more than one month should not be paid until he is available and fit to play. This is not acceptable.

Hence with the help of the union these issues can now be addressed.

The players union will be officially launched during a press conference later this week. A meeting between the MFA and the union will follow.

All players, not only Premier League players, are encouraged to join this initiative.

To join players can either fill in the form online and specifying their respective club name – http://www.gwu.org.mt/join/join-and-pay-online.aspx or they can call the General Workers Union directly on 25679200.